The Secret of the Skeleton Key

by Penny Warner

  “It sounds familiar,” Luke added.

  “You’re thinking of Francis Scott Key,” Cody said. “He wrote the ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ remember?”

  “Hey, that’s cool,” Luke said. “There’s a key, and his name is Francis Scott. Get it?”

  “That reminds me… ” Quinn pulled the metal case from his zippered jacket. “Look at this.”

  Luke squinted at the case. “What?”

  “There are letters written on the side,” Quinn answered. “You can see them when they catch the light.”

  “What do they say?” Cody asked, surprised that she had missed them when she’d had the case.

  “They’re really faint,” Quinn said, “but the soot from the fire makes them easier to read.”

  “Let me see.” Cody took the case from Quinn’s hands and looked at it closely. The writing was fancy and old-fashioned, like something she’d seen in books at museums. She could just make out three letters.

  “F S K,” Cody said.

  “That’s not a word,” M.E. said.

  “What’s it supposed to mean?” Luke asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Good question,” Quinn said, taking the case back from Cody.

  “Maybe they’re initials,” M.E. suggested.

  Quinn shook his head. “But the old man’s name is Skeleton—I mean Skelton. That’s his last name, not his middle name. Maybe the initials stand for something in code, like in that framed CIA certificate we saw. FSK. Federal … Secret … Ka … ” He shrugged and placed the case into Luke’s outstretched hand.

  Luke studied it intently, then said, “Dude, I got nothing. If we don’t have the key, we can’t break the code.”

  Cody sat up. “That’s it!”

  “What’s it?” Luke asked.

  “What you said about the key, Luke,” Cody continued. “Mr. Skelton stuck that note on the tag, wrote that name, and attached a key. It must mean his name is—”

  They all said it at once: “Francis Scott Key!”

  Cody looked at the cat.

  “The ‘key’ to the metal case is around the cat’s neck!”

  Chapter 13

  Punkin, aka Francis Scott Key, seemed to understand every word the kids said. Apparently, he didn’t want any part of it. He arched his back, let out a howl, and darted from Cody’s hands.

  “Get him!” Quinn shouted. “Otherwise, he’ll get out through the space under the door.”

  When the kids built the clubhouse, it hadn’t been perfectly square. There was just enough room for a big rat or small cat to squeeze through the gap under the door. More than once, the kids had discovered an animal waiting for them in the clubhouse—mostly squirrels and raccoons. But one time they had found a skunk that had smelled up the place so bad, they had had to use Quinn’s backyard toolshed for meetings until the clubhouse had aired out.

  Punkin instinctively seemed to know about the escape route and made a run for the space under the door. But Luke was too fast for him and blocked the opening by sticking his leg in front of the door. The cat hissed at Luke, but Luke didn’t budge.

  “Nice kitty,” he said, as Cody picked up Punkin and tried to calm him.

  “Uh-oh,” Quinn said, searching the floor around them. “Where’d the case go?” The kids had lost track of it during the cat’s escape attempt.

  “There it is,” M.E. said, spotting it under Cody’s backpack. Cody lifted up the case with her free hand, her other hand still holding Punkin close to her chest. She turned to M.E. and asked, “M.E., can you get the key off the cat?”

  M.E. nodded, reached over, and felt around the collar for the buckle. In seconds the key dangled from her fingertips.

  “Try the key in that little opening,” Cody said, indicating the small slit on the side of the case. M.E. inserted the key and, with a twist of her wrist, popped open the metal case.

  “Cool!” Luke said, and high-fived Cody.

  Quinn grinned with anticipation as M.E. lifted the lid and looked inside.

  Her wide eyes narrowed. “There’s nothing in here. It’s totally empty.”

  Cody took the opened case to see for herself. M.E. was right—there was nothing inside. She turned the box around and checked it more closely. As she started to close the lid, her eyes caught on something she hadn’t noticed when she’d held the case upright. There were faint scratches on the inside of the lid.

  Cody looked at her friend M.E. “M.E., do you have a candy bar?” Cody knew M.E. had a sweet tooth and almost always had something chocolate in her backpack.

  “Maybe,” M.E. said, grasping her backpack tightly. “Why?”

  “Hand it over,” Cody said, holding out her hand.

  “No way.”

  “Please.”

  M.E. frowned and opened a small compartment in her backpack. “You owe me,” she said, passing Cody a chocolate bar.

  Cody handed over Punkin to M.E., then ripped open the wrapper and broke off a piece of the chocolate coating. She pressed it between her fingers until it melted, then smeared it over the scratches. Using her palm, she wiped away the excess. The melted chocolate had filled the small indentations of the etched metal, making them more visible.

  “These look like tiny drawings,” she said, moving the lid back and forth to catch the light. “They’re the same kind of drawings we saw on Mr. Skelton’s window, Quinn.”

  Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on pp. 203, 207.

  Quinn studied the inside of the lid. “Wait a minute…. ” He stood up and motioned for the others to do the same. Bending down on one knee, he lifted up part of the metal floor, revealing half of the secret hiding place underneath. He reached inside and pulled out a worn copy of Dictionary of Secret Codes, then replaced the flooring. Flipping through it, he found what he was looking for—a chapter that featured stick figures holding flags at various angles.

  Cody peered over his shoulder. “What are those?”

  “Semaphores,” Quinn said. “Sailors use flags, holding them at different angles, to represent letters.” He studied the first stick figure, then ran his finger down the various semaphores and their matching alphabet letters. He stopped at the figure next to the letter U.

  “Cody, write this down,” he ordered.

  Cody pulled out her codebook and flipped to a blank page.

  “U,” he said, his finger moving on to the next semaphore. One by one, he said them aloud. “N. D. E. R. C. O. U. C. H.”

  Cody wrote each letter as Quinn said it. When he stopped and closed the book, she read the word: UNDERCOUCH. “Under couch!” she announced excitedly.

  “So those stick figures we saw on the window— I’ll bet they were semaphores, too,” Quinn said. “He was trying to send us a message.”

  Cody quickly flipped through her notebook to the page where she’d copied the figures from Skeleton Man’s window. Borrowing the code dictionary, she began writing down letters to match each of the four stick figures. When she was done, she closed the book and looked at her three friends.

  “H. E. L. P.,” she said. “He was trying to tell us he needed help!”

  “We’ve got to go back there,” Quinn said.

  “Where?” M.E. said.

  “Skeleton Man’s house,” Quinn said, stuffing the codebook into his backpack and pulling out his aviator glasses.

  “Why?” Luke asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious? He left this coded message that says ‘under couch.’ He’s obviously hidden something under his couch. We have to find it— before his two creepy cousins do.”

  “He’s right,” Luke said to the others. “We gotta check it out.”

  “But if the treasure is there, maybe the fire destroyed it,” M.E. said.

  Cody shook her head. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

  M.E. scrunched her nose. “Why not?”

  “The couch frame was metal, like Skeleton Man’s sculptures, so it didn’t burn. He probably made it himself, like he made all those yard sc
ulptures. If he’s got something hidden, like a treasure, it’s probably under the couch. Maybe in the floor.”

  Quinn jumped to his feet. “We better get over there. Now!”

  Ducking behind Skeleton Man’s fence, Cody, still holding the cat, and the others sneaked along the bushes, making their way to the back door of the burned-out house. She noticed immediately that something was different about the door. She yanked at it; it opened an inch, then jerked to a stop.

  “Someone put a chain inside the door!” she said.

  Luke tried to reach inside to unhook it but couldn’t fit his hand through the opening. Neither could M.E., who had the smallest hands.

  “Who would do that?” Quinn asked, obviously disturbed by this new roadblock.

  “Maybe those two weirdos?” Luke guessed. His face brightened. “Wait a minute. I’ll be right back.” He took off running, disappearing around the side of the house. He returned a few seconds later, his face fallen. “The front door has a new knob—and it’s locked, too.”

  “We’re locked out,” Luke said, then looked around. “We can’t go through the windows. The ones that are broken have bars on them.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Cody said, spotting the cat door. The opening was about the size of a large shoebox, and was handmade from metal—another one of Mr. Skelton’s creations.

  She pushed the flap. It didn’t move. Luke, getting the idea, sat down and gave it a kick, knocking it off one hinge. The door swung in, then dangled crookedly on the other hinge.

  “Quinn, help me pull this thing off,” Luke said, holding the flap in both hands. Quinn grabbed the other side of the small door and together they yanked at it. Quinn gave it an extra kick and the door came off in their hands, causing both of them to fall back on their bottoms.

  “You did it!” M.E. squealed, scaring the cat in Cody’s arms. Punkin leaped to the ground and ran through the opening, disappearing from sight.

  “Sorry!” M.E. clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “I guess you’ll have to go in after him,” Cody said, with a raised eyebrow and an evil grin.

  M.E. looked up at her and shook her head. “There’s no way I can crawl through that cat door. I’ll never fit. No way, Jose.”

  “I’m kidding,” Cody confessed. “But if you could fit your arm in there… ”

  “I can’t reach the chain from down there. I’ve got the shortest arms!” M.E. said.

  Cody turned her attention to Luke, the tallest in the group. “Luke, you’ve got to try to reach that chain and undo it.”

  “Me?” Luke asked, blinking. With a shrug, he lay down on the dirty porch, placing his head near the opening, and reached in.

  “It’s too far,” Luke said, grunting as he struggled to reach the lock. “I need a stick or something.”

  Cody searched the yard for something that would help. The place was filled with metal sculptures; many of them looked like trees, and a few looked like cats. She found one with a three-foot branch that looked as if it were bent, and wiggled it back and forth. It broke in her hands. She brought it back to Luke.

  He took the long metal stick and guided it in through the cat door opening. Aiming it upward, he began brushing it against the chain, trying to hook it. After several attempts, he latched onto the chain and slid it to the opening. Cody heard the chain fall open.

  “We’re in!” Quinn said, helping Luke to his feet and brushing off his back. “Nice work.” Luke and Quinn bumped knuckles.

  Cody and M.E. rolled their eyes.

  The Code Busters slipped in through the door and headed for the couch. Quinn knelt down to look underneath and spotted Punkin. Gently, he pulled the cat from his hiding place and handed him to Cody. He knelt down again. “I think there’s something here!” he whispered.

  “What? The treasure?” Cody asked, tingling with excitement. The others got down on their knees to look underneath the metal frame.

  “It’s just a bunch of little holes,” Luke said, shaking his head.

  “Wait a minute,” Cody said, running her fingers along the indentations. “This could be a message.”

  “What, like Morse code?” Quinn suggested.

  “No, it’s not Morse code. But it might be Braille,” Cody said.

  “I haven’t learned Braille yet,” Quinn said, frowning.

  “I know the letters of my name in Braille.” Cody sat back and dug out her notebook. She copied the pattern of holes onto a sheet of paper.

  Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on pp. 204, 207.

  Then she wrote her name in Braille.

  “Look. The third symbol could be an O. And it’s repeated twice. That’s an S, an A, and an E.”

  “So you’ve got blank-OO-blank-S-blank-A-blank-E,” M.E. said, reading the letters Cody had jotted down underneath the corresponding dots. “We’re missing a bunch of letters.”

  “I know my initials,” Luke said. “That’s an L.” He pointed to the second set of dots.

  Cody added it to the translated message. It now read: blank-LOO-blank-S-blank-A-blank-E.

  “Still no clue,” M.E. said, sounding discouraged.

  “Oh wait! I also know my nickname in Braille— Cody.” Cody added the letter C between the A and the E. “Loo sace,” she said aloud, then repeated the sounds, adding letters to come up with familiar words—“ploom shace, blood slace, floor space…That’s it!”

  The kids looked at one another.

  “Move the couch,” Cody commanded. Luke and Quinn shoved the couch aside.

  Quinn knelt down again and rolled up the charred throw rug. It smelled like burned rubber to Cody, and she crinkled her nose. Then, moving his hands over the bare floor, Quinn located a loose plank. He lifted it up.

  The girls gasped.

  The boys high-fived.

  Cody whispered, “It looks like Skeleton Man’s safe!”

  Chapter 14

  Dude, open it!” Luke said, his eyes wide with anticipation.

  Quinn looked at the safe’s combination. Instead of numbers, he found alphabet letters from A to Z. He spun the lock around a few times, trying various words—Skelton, the name of the street, Francis Scott Key, even Abracadabra and Open Sesame.

  Nothing worked.

  “I don’t suppose anyone knows the combination,” Quinn said, giving up.

  Cody grinned. “Actually, I think I might.”

  “Yeah, right,” Quinn said.

  Cody knelt down, handed Punkin to M.E., and turned the combination lock. The others watched as she worked. “First to the right…to ‘F’ …then to the left… ‘S’ …then back to the right… ”

  “To the letter K!” M.E. said, petting the cat. “The cat’s initials.”

  Cody stopped at the letter K and gave a tug.

  The safe creaked open.

  “Yes!” M.E. said.

  Quinn frowned and asked, “How did you know?”

  “Lucky guess?” Cody stifled a smile.

  Luke elbowed her gently in the ribs. “No way, dude. How’d you do it?”

  Cody couldn’t keep the secret any longer. “Well, I just figured, since everything so far has been about Francis Scott, the cat had to be the key to the combination lock.”

  “Brilliant,” M.E. said, grinning.

  Cody reached into the safe, felt around, and pulled out a piece of paper. Her smile disappeared. “There’s no money in here. Just this piece of paper.”

  “Oh great. Another code.” Quinn sighed.

  Cody unfolded the paper. After taking a deep breath, she read the handwritten note aloud. Again, some of the words were darker than others.

  “INSIDE LIES a puzzle,

  Where there should be cash.

  WILL you find THE money?

  Or be left with ASH?”

  “Oookaaay,” Luke said, scratching his head and readjusting his hat. “Now what?”

  “Can I see the note?” Quinn asked. Cody handed it over. “That’s weird…. ”

  “What’s weird
?” M.E. asked.

  “This note. It’s a lot like the first one—that poem—we found inside the case, remember? Something about ‘behind the frame.’”

  “Quinn, hand me the case, please,” Cody said.

  Quinn pulled it from his pocket and gave it to Cody. She lifted the unlocked lid and reread it to the group.

  “WILL you find THE money?

  No, it’s not INSIDE.

  LIES are in the ASHes.

  Not a place to hide.”

  No one said anything for a few moments. Then Luke spoke up. “I still don’t get it.”

  Quinn reread both messages to the others. “The riddles are similar,” he said, once he was done. “See how some of the same words are used. But the lines of the poem are different.”

  Cody nodded, excited. “The same words in both messages are darker—and written in capital letters. There’s got to be a reason.”

  “Okay, sooooo…,” Luke said, thinking aloud. “It says, ‘The money’s not inside’ and ‘The lies are in the ashes.’ It still doesn’t tell us anything.”

  “Maybe not in the actual riddle,” Cody said. “But maybe the highlighted words are the key.” She handed her codebook to M.E. “Write this down.”

  M.E. flipped to a blank page. “Go.”

  “Okay, let’s see. Write down will, the, inside, ashes, and lies. Those are the exact same words— the highlighted words—used in both notes.”

  M.E. printed the five words neatly on the paper, then read them aloud. “Will…the…inside…ashes …lies.”

  Luke made a face, clearly puzzled. He took the metal case from Cody. “Wait a minute. This reminds me of my grand-mère’s puzzles. She loves anagrams—those mixed-up letters that make a word when they’re unscrambled. She makes anagrams out of my spelling words to help me learn them. Like this.” He wrote the letters Z. U. L. Z. E. P. on Cody’s notebook paper.

  “Zulzep?” M.E. asked, reading the letters together.

  “Unscramble the letters,” Luke said, and handed her the pen.

  Once he explained it, M.E. took only seconds to rearrange the letters. “Puzzle!”